She graduated from medical school at Mayo Medical School (part of the Mayo Clinic) in Rochester, Minnesota and completed her psychiatry residency at the University of Massachusetts in Worcester, Massachusetts where she also trained and did research with Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. who pioneered the development of mindfulness-based stress reduction programs in mainstream medical settings.

After completing her residency, she joined the University of Massachusetts faculty where she worked for over 20 years doing clinical work, teaching and research. She has worked with a wide range of people in different settings, both outpatient and inpatient.

“My approach is to try to meet people where they are, to foster wholeness by looking at the ways in which we exile parts of ourselves, and the ways in which we can call ourselves home. My hope is that this work will enable people to enlarge the possibilities for being alive.”